Controversial Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis proposes that Greece exploits hydrocarbon reserves with half the Middle East as well as with Turkey. In an article posted on daily Efimerida Ton Syntakton, the former finance minister sees the share of hydrocarbon reserves as an opportunity for peace in the region. jointly exploiting the resources will promote peace and national interests of Gree

groundbreaking proposal

He proposes that Greece shares the exploitation not only with Israel and Cyprus but also with the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon and Egypt and Turkey.

Having written the article on the occasion of the recent killings of Palestinians, Varoufakis notes that “the victims of Gaza point out at a different foreign and energy policy.”

He accuses Greece for working together with Israel and criticized Trump’s move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem as a move aiming to undermine peace in the Middle East.

Varoufakis notes among others:

“Does the government believe that the US of Trump and Israel of Netanyahu will stand by us, will help us de-escalate tensions in the Aegean, in Cyprus or help us with the refugee crisis in front of a rampant Turkey which iron regime will dither its people with the (not false) argument that the murderers of Palestinians exploit together with the Greeks the hydrocarbon wealth off out coasts in the South?”

He continues point out that “exactly because Turkey is a aggressive, unreliable, problematic neighbor, it is foolish and dangerous to leave it outside the hydrocarbon exploitation, and to ally only with Israel in a region where tensions are siring dangerously and the only states remaining in operation and retaining the ability to intervene are Iran and Turkey.”

He underlines that the proposal will be included in his party MeRA25 electoral program to be presented to public in June.

The proposal: to create a wider cooperation on the hydrocarbon exploitation between Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian authority.

“Why should Palestinians be excluded from the share?” he asks, while I wonder why Syria is not included in his proposal.

He stresses that if Greece makes such a proposal, “the image of the country within the European Union and globally would be upgraded as Greece could appear as a prudent, constructive and pacifist regional power, instead of an opportunity colony of the EU.”

Such a groundbreaking proposal would also create problems to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “who politically invests in tension between Greece and Turkey,” Varoufakis adds in his short-term and short-sighted vision.

I write “short-term and short-sighted” in the sense that until all these different countries, parties, group and local powers sit together to discuss such a possibility and also agree on it, most likely Erdogan will have lost his throne, the Cyprus and the Palestinian issues would be either solved or buried for ever.

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3 comments

I agree with Yani Varoufaki. This is a very smart movement. Again wherever this planet has to offer to us we have to share with everybody. If we move to Mars and other planets we have to share everything. Not the mistakes we are having/doing here on Earth.

…Mr. Erdogan is welcome to the tables where these countries sit, and work together, for this work’s execution.

There is nothing wrong with what Mr. Varoufakis suggests, in effect it is not a new idea. But by what has been demonstrated, it is not likely, Mr. Erdogan’s intention is to rule this Sea. From his point of view, Cyprus as an island in affect does not exist, it is Turkey’s “Continental Shelf”, and if the Treaty of Lausanne is dismissed as flawed, as he insists, it spans from the shores of Italy across to Syria, and down to Egypt. Would Mr. Varoufakis be willing to negotiaite from this starting point?

What of the Piri Reis (one, of Turkey’s new submarines), what of the drilling rig she owns, what of the Turkish Navy and their offensive behaviour toward the Maritime Traffic Mr. Erdogan may find he does not agree with?

…more than kind words is needed because while Turkey is no enemy, Erdogan, at this point is no friend.

While Greece should not become an opportunistic pond of the EU (as we witness what this old foe dictating European policy has done to Greece lately), it should not harlot principle to attempt to enhance its security by cutting a deal with the devil. One that the EU bribes to keep refugees.

It would be more prudent to stick with past allies than try to appease old foes.